Cluster of suede-capped boletes at the trail edge
Boletaceae Family
Angles captured. Three frames: the cluster in place at the trail edge, then one fruitbody picked and held to show the pore surface and the cap. Times 10:13, from EXIF.
Morphology
Several caps 6–10 cm in a tight cluster, tan to warm brown, dry and finely suede-textured, bruising dark where handled. Pore surface deep red, fine and velvety, the margin strongly inrolled on the picked fruitbody. Stipe yellow at the apex with red-brown streaking below; flesh yellow where exposed at the top of the stipe.
Habitat & substrate
Grass and low ground cover at the trail edge, wild strawberry beneath, pine and mixed hardwood nearby — a different setting from the litter slope these frames were first filed under.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
A red pore surface places this among the red-pored boletes, the group that carries the region's serious gastrointestinal poisoners. Genus is not resolvable from these frames — red-pored species sit in several genera — and no bluing check was recorded at the time. Compare TM0154, the russet bolete these frames were once pooled with: single fruitbody, ochre pores, slope litter, an hour later on the walk.
To confirm this identification
Establish whether a print was ever pulled from this collection: the cap beside each unassigned card in the working shots either matches frame #4838 or it does not. A card 2 match was proposed on 17 August and withdrawn the same day. If no card belongs to this cluster, the path is the next fresh find — bluing speed and any colour change on cutting.
Notes
Serious poisoning is possible in this group; treat as inedible. Split out of TM0154 on 17 August after the compiler flagged the frames as a different mushroom — the split rests on the photographs and EXIF times alone. A same-day attempt to attach spore print card 2 here was withdrawn; no print is currently tied to this entry.
Found at Coldbrook Rd area, Hubbardston, MA on Friday, 14 August 2026 at 10:13. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
Others in this group
Large orange-brown bolete, uprootedBoletaceae · Jul 31Low–moderate
Bolete with boletinoid poresBoletinellus, Suillus or Phylloporus · Jul 31Moderate
Olive-brown boleteBoletaceae · Aug 6Low–moderate
Rosy cap with golden gill-platescf. Phylloporus · Aug 6Moderate
Dark chestnut boleteBoletaceae · Aug 6Moderate
Wine-red boleteBoletaceae · Aug 6Moderate
Orange-capped boletesBoletaceae · Aug 6Low–moderate
Red-capped bolete with yellow poresBoletaceae · Aug 8Moderate